"Honey, are you okay?"
The distressed inquiry came from a very nervous Mrs. Charis. Agatha opened her eyes slowly, waking up to see Shadow, her mother, and Sonic standing in front of her. She was still in the TV room.
"I'm fine . . . but . . ."
"I already told them what happened, Agatha. I apologize for splashing cold water on your face," Shadow said. Agatha ran her fingers through her bangs, which she realized were soaking wet along with her face.
"No, it's fine. Thanks, Shadow."
Mrs. Charis let out a breath, relieved.
"Oh, honey, you had me so worried," she uttered with tears forming in her eyes. Sonic shook his head.
"Shads, are you sure it was Jet?"
"If you don't trust me, ask the girl," he responded darkly, knowing that he was often suspected of lying. Sonic thrust a look of questioning at Agatha.
Agatha sat up slowly and looked at her mother, who also had an inquiring expression. Agatha pictured the frantic Mobian from the TV screen again, although she didn't want to remember it.
"I don't know exactly who Jet is," she started hesitantly, "but whoever it was had a green mohawk, goggles on the top of his head, and red boots. He had a beak, too. Is that Jet?"
Sonic shut one eye and pressed his fingers against the side of his forehead.
"Sounds like him. Was he really . . . persistent?" Upon seeing Agatha's nod, Sonic immediately sank down to the floor, assuming a seated position. "Yeah, that was definitely him . . ."
A slight pattering noise sounded as the group of four pondered the situation. Agatha looked out of the window. The sky grew dark and heavy raindrops pounded on the windowsill.
"Oh, goodness, I need to close the windows," Mrs. Charis muttered. She turned to Sonic and set a hand on his shoulder. "Sonic, dear, please come to me if you need help. I'll always be here for you."
"Yes, ma'am," Sonic replied wearily.
"Oh, and one more thing . . ."
"Ma'am?"
Mrs. Charis leaned in closer and quietly uttered,
"Do not, I repeat, do not leave this house until this all blows over. Understand?"
Sonic felt crushed. His only chance at making peace was completely obliterated. Broken into pieces. Agatha and Shadow could see the disappointment that filled his eyes. Nevertheless, the valiant hedgehog had no intention of letting Mrs. Charis down by disobeying her.
"Okay, Mrs. Charis," he answered obediently. The three that accompanied the blue hedgehog decided silently that it would be best to leave him with his own thoughts and to let him be.
Gabriel, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy burst through the back door, all soaking wet.
"Crap, it's pouring outside!" Gabriel laughed, in good spirits from the adrenaline rush. Knuckles seemed to be in the same mood.
"Whoo, what a rush! It was a mad dash to get back in here!"
"Yeah," muttered Tails as he wrung out his tails, "I'll say. You just had to push me into the mud, didn't you?"
Knuckles shrugged.
"Hey, you were in my way! It wasn't my fault you ran right in front of me."
"Well, it wasn't me!" cried Tails in opposition. Knuckles smirked in satisfaction. Tails' angry protests kept Knuckles very amused.
"Ahh, be quiet, you two boneheads," Gabe scolded, ruffling both of the Mobians' furry heads, "at least Amy is being a good girl and not complaining about her hair."
Amy snapped her head up at the sound of her name.
"Suuure . . ." she said, not convincing anyone that she was totally innocent of that as she squeezed the last few drops of water from her short pink hair.
Gabriel walked out of the mud room and into the TV room from the back hallway. He noticed Sonic sitting alone on the couch, swinging one leg back and forth. He looked completely lost in his own world.
"Hey, you little blue rat!" Gabe greeted, sitting himself on the floor so he wouldn't get the nice couch all wet. "How's it going?"
Sonic smiled slightly.
"Eh, I've definitely seen better days." He gazed at the drops of water that dripped from the top of the windows to the bottom sill. Gabriel paused for a moment and then lowered his voice, remembering Sonic's previous decision.
"Are you actually doing it?" he asked. Sonic frowned in confusion. "Leaving, I mean. Will you be going tonight?"
Sonic chuckled darkly.
"Heh . . . well, there's been a minor setback," he began awkwardly, "Your mother made me promise that I wouldn't leave. See . . . something happened earlier."
Sonic grimly recounted the story that Shadow had told him. Gabriel instantly became more serious upon listening to the grave situation.
"Hmm . . . this does change things, doesn't it?" he murmured. Sonic bit his lower lip in deep thought. Thunder played a low and long song to highlight the severity and depression of the moment. Gabriel waited for the thunder to end its low note so he could speak again. "Well, you know that you have good friends here. The other Mobians are practically family to you, right? I'm sure they've got faith in whatever you choose to do. Maybe with exception of Shadow . . ." he added in a mumble. Sonic smiled, allowing his unhappiness to melt away by a bit.
"Thanks, sport. I owe you one for the pep talk."
"Hey, no problem, man! You know we're all here as your moral support group."
Sonic smiled as Gabriel ran up the stairs and complained loudly as his mother yelled at him for sitting on the rug with wet clothing. Another long and low sound came from the sky around the house, this time preceded by a bright flash of lightning. With a series of beeps and clicks, all the lights in the house suddenly fell victim to the storm and shut off. Annoyed cries rang out from everywhere in the house. Sonic chuckled.
"My support group in a nutshell," he thought, "can't go a few minutes without some electricity."
Later in the evening, when everyone except for Mr. and Mrs. Charis was asleep, the storm still raged on, this time with more power.
"Geez, will we be getting power back soon?" Peter Charis grumbled from behind a lit candle. His wife scolded him.
"Oh, hush. We've got more serious problems to worry about," she said.
Peter sighed.
"I know. Ahh, poor Sonic. He's got a lot of pressure on him at this point."
"Oh, I know, the poor kid. I offered to help him in any way I could."
Another boom of thunder sounded, playing a terrible march that seemed to last hours. Mrs. Charis caught a glimpse of a strange light passing over the lawn.
"What on earth . . ?"
She approached the window and looked up into the sky, where raindrops mercilessly splattered themselves against the glass. Over the trees, Mrs. Charis saw an odd light coming from between the clouds. The source of the light created another loud sound different than the thunder dance. Looking up, Mrs. Charis could see a large shape passing dangerously low over the treetops.
"What is it, hon?" Peter asked calmly. His wife, however, realized something that threw her into a state of complete dismay.
"Peter! Peter, it's a government helicopter! Look, it has an official logo on it! Oh, Peter!"
The frantic woman thrust herself into her husband's arms, sobbing.
"I can't let them take the Mobians! This all has to be a horrible dream, please tell me this is nothing but a nightmare!"
"Honey, please calm down! You'll wake up the kids," Peter soothed her with his charming voice and hushed her, as a mother would to her crying child. "Everything will be fine. Look, it's passing over. Look, honey, it's going away."
Indeed, the helicopter had turned and was going in the opposite direction, but this did not stop Mrs. Charis from being utterly frenzied. She sobbed into her husband's chest helplessly.
"Honey, we must protect them. I don't want to lose anyone; it would be all my fault!"
Peter didn't respond, but instead stroked his wife's disheveled hair. If there's one thing a dedicated husband doesn't want to see, it's his wife in a state of forlorn hysteria. Not only this, but now his entire family was at risk—and not just his four children.
"We won't let them take the Mobians," he said, in an attempt at comforting his spouse, "you'll see."